Neil J. Gunther facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Neil James Gunther
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Neil Gunther at Bletchley Park 2002
"A quantum leap is neither" |
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| Born | 15 August 1950 Preston, Victoria, Australia
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| Alma mater | La Trobe University University of Southampton |
| Known for | Performance analysis Capacity planning tools Theory of large transients Universal scalability law |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Computational information systems (classical and quantum) |
| Institutions | San Jose State University Syncal Corporation Xerox Palo Alto Research Center Performance Dynamics Company (Founder) École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) |
| Doctoral advisor | Tomas M. Kalotas (Honors) Christie J. Eliezer (Masters) David J. Wallace (Doctorate) |
Neil Gunther (born August 15, 1950) is a scientist who studies computer information systems. He is famous for creating Pretty ... Quick (PDQ). This is a free software that helps understand how well computers perform.
He also developed the "Guerrilla approach" to planning computer capacity. This helps companies figure out how much computer power they need. Neil Gunther is also known for his ideas about how computer systems grow and handle more work, which he called the "universal law of computational scalability".
He is a senior member of important groups like the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Currently, he is working on new technologies for quantum information systems.
Contents
Neil Gunther's Early Life and Education
Neil Gunther was born in Melbourne, Australia, on August 15, 1950. His family has German and Scottish roots. He went to primary school in Preston East and Balwyn North.
When he turned ten, his cousin gave him a book called The Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments. This book made him very interested in science. He started doing experiments at home using chemicals he found around the house.
After a small spill, his mom moved his experiments to the garage. He turned a small area into his own laboratory. He used industrial chemicals and old lab equipment.
Neil was curious about how things like detergents and oils were made. He tried to break them down using a special tool called a fractionating column. He also loved mixing paints for his art and chemistry classes at Balwyn High School.
His father, who managed Melbourne's electrical power station, borrowed a chemistry book for him. This made Neil very interested in making colorful dyes. Around age 14, he tried to guess the color of these dyes. He didn't know enough about quantum theory yet, so it was a tough challenge.
University Studies and Early Career
Neil Gunther studied at La Trobe University and the University of Southampton. He earned his doctorate degree in physics.
After finishing his studies, he taught physics at San Jose State University from 1980 to 1981.
Working with NASA and JPL
In 1981, Neil joined a small company called Syncal Corporation. This company worked with NASA and JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory). They were developing special materials for spacecraft that travel far into space.
Neil's job was to look at data from the Voyager spacecraft. He studied how stable their power sources, called RTGs, were. He found out how a special type of wave, called a soliton, affected the materials. His work helped JPL choose better materials for the Galileo mission, which launched in 1989.
Working at Xerox PARC
In 1982, Neil Gunther started working at Xerox PARC. This was a famous research center known for inventing many computer technologies. He helped create software to test computer chips.
Later, he joined the "Dragon" project, which was building a powerful computer workstation. There, he created PARCbench, a tool to test how well these computers performed. This was his first time working on computer performance analysis.
In 1989, he developed a new way to use Richard Feynman's ideas about quantum paths. He used these ideas to understand why large computer systems and networks sometimes slow down.
Time at Pyramid Technology
In 1990, Neil joined Pyramid Technology. He became a senior scientist and managed a team that analyzed computer performance. His team helped Pyramid's computers achieve very high scores on industry tests. He also used computer simulations to help design a powerful database server.
Starting His Own Company
In 1994, Neil Gunther started his own company called Performance Dynamics Company. He offered advice and training on how to manage high-performance computer systems. He focused on understanding and planning for how much work computers could handle.
..... This software helps people model and understand computer performance. He also wrote a textbook called The Practical Performance Analyst, which was followed by several other books.
Neil Gunther's Current Research
Quantum Information Systems
Since 2004, Neil Gunther has been researching quantum information systems. These systems use tiny particles of light, called photons, to process information.
He developed a new idea called "photon bifurcation." This theory is being tested at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland. It's another way he uses quantum ideas to understand how light behaves.
Visualizing Computer Performance
Neil Gunther also works on making it easier to see and understand computer performance data. He was inspired by other scientists who used visuals to explain complex information.
In 1991, he created a tool called Barry. This tool uses a special coordinate system to show how much a computer's central processing unit (CPU) is being used. More recently, he used similar ideas to visualize how well applications perform. He also found a way to visualize packet network performance data using a 3D shape that can be moved on a screen. In 2008, he helped start an online group called PerfViz for people interested in performance visualization.
The Universal Scalability Law
Neil Gunther developed a very important idea called the Universal Scalability Law in 1993. This law helps predict how well a computer system will perform as you add more users or processors.
Imagine you have a computer system. As more people use it, or as you add more parts to it, you want it to get faster. The Universal Scalability Law helps explain why systems sometimes don't get faster as expected. It considers things like:
- Contention: When many parts of the system try to use the same resource at the same time, like waiting in a line.
- Coherency: The time it takes for all parts of the system to agree on the same information.
- Concurrency: How much work the system can do at the same time.
This law helps engineers understand where to make improvements. For example, if there's a lot of "contention," it means parts of the system are waiting too much. If there's high "coherency" delay, it means data isn't being shared fast enough. By understanding these factors, people can make computer systems work much better. It also helps predict the maximum amount of work a system can handle, so you don't waste resources trying to scale it beyond its limits.
Awards and Recognition
Neil Gunther has received many awards and honors for his work:
- He was elected a Senior Member of the ACM in April 2009.
- He was elected a Senior Member of the IEEE in February 2009.
- He received the A. A. Michelson Award in December 2008.
- He was a visitor at the Summer Research Institute at EPFL in 2006 and 2007.
- He was a lecturer at the Western Institute of Computer Science at Stanford University from 1997 to 2000.
- He won a best paper award at the CMG conference in 1996.
- He was a Visiting Scholar in Materials Science at Stanford University from 1981 to 1982.
- He received a Science Research Council Studentship in the U.K. from 1976 to 1980.
- He received a Commonwealth Postgraduate Scholarship in Australia from 1975 to 1976.
